Facing the Flag eBook

Suddenly he rushes to the port stays and clings to
them, and I begin to fear that he will leap into the
rigging and climb to the cross-tree, where he might
be precipitated into the sea by a lurch of the ship.

On a sign from Captain Spade, some sailors run up
and try to make him relinquish his grasp of the stays,
but are unable to do so. I know that during his
fits he is endowed with the strength of ten men, and
many a time I have been compelled to summon assistance
in order to overpower him.

Other members of the crew, however, come up, and the
unhappy madman is borne to the deck, where two big
sailors hold him down, despite his extraordinary strength.

The only thing to do is to convey him to his cabin,
and let him lie there till he gets over his fit.
This is what will be done in conformity with orders
given by a new-comer whose voice seems familiar to
me.

I turn and recognize him.

He is the Count d’Artigas, with a frown on his
face and an imperious manner, just as I had seen him
at Healthful House.

I at once advance toward him. I want an explanation
and mean to have it.

“By what right, sir?”—­I begin.

“By the right of might,” replies the Count.

Then he turns on his heel, and Thomas Roch is carried
below.

CHAPTER VII.

TWO DAYS AT SEA.

Perhaps—­should circumstances render it
necessary—­I may be induced to tell the
Count d’Artigas that I am Simon Hart, the engineer.
Who knows but what I may receive more consideration
than if I remain Warder Gaydon? This measure,
however, demands reflection. I have always been
dominated by the thought that if the owner of the Ebba
kidnapped the French inventor, it was in the hope
of getting possession of Roch’s fulgurator,
for which, neither the old nor new continent would
pay the impossible price demanded. In that case
the best thing I can do is to remain Warder Gaydon,
on the chance that I may be allowed to continue in
attendance upon him. In this way, if Thomas Roch
should ever divulge his secret, I may learn what it
was impossible to do at Healthful House, and can act
accordingly.

Meanwhile, where is the Ebba bound?—­first
question.

Who and what is the Count d’Artigas?—­second
question.

The first will be answered in a few days’ time,
no doubt, in view of the rapidity with which we are
ripping through the water, under the action of a means
of propulsion that I shall end by finding out all
about. As regards the second, I am by no means
so sure that my curiosity will ever be gratified.